Updated 18.55
England (274/4, 43 overs) beat Ireland (269/7) by six wickets
EOIN MORGAN SPOILED the party as England rallied to deny Ireland’s cricketers another famous shock.
The Dubliner was the difference between the sides, leading from the front with a captain’s stand of 124 not out on a historic day in Malahide.
Batting partner Ravi Bopara added 101 of his own as England staved off an Irish upset and reeled in their target of 270 with six wickets to spare.
Together Morgan and Bopara scored 226, the highest-ever fifth wicket partnership in one-day international history.
Morgan’s star turn was a bitter pill to swallow in the first international match at the newly revamped “Fortress Malahide”.
A crowd of 9,000-plus set a new record for Irish cricket but those in attendance were left to wonder what might have been if Morgan and bowler Boyd Rankin, who took four wickets on his ODI debut, were still lining out in green.
Some supporters came armed with signs encouraging the ICC to grant Ireland Test-playing status before they lose any more of their young talent.
Image: INPHO/Morgan Treacy
There were some boos as Morgan, who played club cricket with Malahide and internationally for Ireland before pursuing his Test ambitions across the water, walked to the wicket with England struggling on 25/3.
But that turned to applause as he scored his first one-day century since 2010 and finished with 124 off 106 balls, including 12 boundaries.
England were in desperate need of that stellar showing after Ireland captain William Porterfield set the stage for an exciting afternoon with a century of his own.
After losing the toss and going in to bat first Porterfield lasted almost three hours and marked his ton in style, firing a beautiful six off his former international team-mate Rankin.
Rankin eventually got his revenge and bowled out Porterfield for a total of 112 which included 14 fours to go with his milestone six.
Porterfield’s knock was the perfect recovery after a slow Irish start. Rankin took the early wickets of Paul Stirling (10) and Ed Joyce (1) to leave Ireland on 36/2 midway through the seventh over, and later caught John Mooney lbw for the seventh Irish wicket.
With England chasing 270 to win, Tim Murtagh’s bowling gave Ireland hope. He dismissed Luke Wright, James Taylor and Gary Ballance to leave the visitors on 48/4 before Morgan intervened to steal the show.
– Originally published 14.56
There will be no easy games for Liverpool until we have a new goalkeeper and 2 solid central defenders. Until that is addressed we will struggle to win any game
We?
Yea Philip, he is they new Liverpool striker. After all the transfer speculation with Lewandovski, Pato, Shane Long thay have decided to go with Tom instead.
Is he better any good?
transfer speculation with Lewandovski, ha that has to be a joke right?
It’s called being a supporter
Liverpools defence is an absolute shambles
Naismith is such a horrible chap.
Speak of his style of play rather than him as a person Ron.
He’s a tough bit of stuff though, has made it the hard way from the Scottish highlands and he’s supposed to be very charitable
Boring enough game I’d say. Can see Liverpool sneaking it 1-0. Now that i have said that expect a 4-4 cracker.
Its on. Lol
You could be right here
I really hope you put 1000 on that
Well Gravy?
Lotto number please!!!
Feck Liverpool. The messed it up.
You were way off!!!
Oh god, hope you did not now….
See on Twitter a Liverpool fan had A Tenner at 100/1 for a 4-4. Didn’t cash out. Ouch. I would be sick.
Jeez what just happened there. Delighted with the win but seriously. Conceding 4 goals. Madness
A goal and an assist for Hoolahan so far. Good stuff.
Liverpool are shit.
Fair play you’ve taken the blinkers off
Crawl back under your rock waster
let sterling go he’s useless they said sure ibe is far better they said.
Ah good day to you mr dunne
I here Moreno getting a five year contract extension too
how ya jack
Well one positive of Liverpool is we get to hear from Paul and Nucky
Better now it’s 4-3 Paul
very exciting stuff between 2 dreadful teams who can’t defend.
christ jack the Liverpool players and management will have a wank on the pitch if they start winning on a regular basis ridiculous carryon at the end.
Paul, you’re a tw@.
ah come on bull the carryon at the end was ridiculous you would think they beat Barcelona not a Norwich team who are heading into a scrap to survive with a winner last kick of the game.
Paul if Liverpool donated all their profits to starving kids in Africa you’d still criticise them for it. Carry on but don’t expect anyone to take you seriously.
that would be a fantastic act if that happened ron and I would be the first to applaud the club now getting back to reality the carryon at the end was ridiculous and embarrassing.
Wow!!!!!! Unbelievable jeff
But Firminho finally looking the part…
Maybe a hat trick for him? Take over from Suarez as the Norwich boogeyman.
Firmino starting to show his worth a bit here. The defending by both sides though, Jesus Christ what can ye say
This is one of the most bizzare games I’ve seen this season
Liverpool will definitely lose this game. Norwich are not easily beat ah home and there’s no way Liverpool can do it with the way they’ve been playing. Its just not gonna happen Liverpool fans.
How’d that work out for you? :)
As a Liverpool fan it worked out quite well… I’ve used the same tactic when united play to jinx them so I thought I would use it for good.
Jesus Brady is having a shocking game
Those in-swinging corners are a thing of beauty though…
His positional sense is horrible. Would rather have a left back that can actually defend
Hoolahan is playing well though.
Even better now.
I thought klopp was the messiah ?
I’m delighted come on Norwich. Naismith was money well spent
Well they’re after coming back into the game so credit were credit is due but I’d still be concerned about the amount of goals Liverpool are conceding plus people are saying their goalkeeper is terrible but klopp gave him a new contract ?
Scorpion, you can expect this stuff for the rest of the season from Pool….. Klopp will make his changes in the summer, let these players play for there Liverpool career…. Will be a tough few years maybe….
Firminho is a huge talent and can be a massive player for years to come. Unfortunately same problems that existed under Rodgers are still there. Goalkeeper and defence are all over the place and klopp’s number one priority has to be it. I suppose the good thing about today is the win.
Beating Norwich is fine, concede 3 goals again though……
It’s not that difficult journal. You update the scorers at the top but the score still says 2-1. Lazy. So annoying
Cracker of a game to be fair. I suppose that’s what you get when you have two really poor defences.
Butland ,Ash Williams , Subotic and Defoe would do for this transfer window and make top 4 a bit realistic
So would messi Ronaldo and George best…
Defoe? R u having a giggle m8!? The lad is about 34
Ahhhh the days of saying are “R u having a giggle m8″ to my friends. Good times, being 11 was great
Top 4 is not realistic at all in my opinion.
Subotic?another one stuck in the treatment room,5th choice centre back for Dortmund at the moment
He maybe injured but at least would put pressure on those there knowing as soon as he is fit that he would def fall in beside Williams. Both a good asset to any team Butland is a no brainer and Defoe will score no matter where he goes . Even if only until the summer . Just need reinforcements immediately
Sakho was are best player last week ? He’s gettin better under Klopp. We need a goal scorer first off
Coz Sakho looks like a giraffe on ice people assume he’s poor but his passing is class and he’s very quick to cover ground
Would love to say easy victory 0-3 but sitting on the fence 0-0 or 1-1… Benny needs to get his act together …
Well that sums up Liverpools defence, or lack off…..
Norwich defence is very fragile. Should still win this. Playing a very poor side.
A poor side that has already scored three
Against an awful side.
Liverpool will struggle to make top 10, Klopp will experiment for the rest of the season…. You can see that here.
Looks like Norwich pulled a Stevie G…
Robbie brady a disaster ,as are Norwich heading a ball back across his goal useless!
Is Klopp still annoyed about the time added on?
How many times has McManaman said “free as a bird”?
Good start from Liverpool
Doesn’t matter how you start. It’s how you finish that counts.
Well they have started to finish well
And a good finish
Liverpool finished well then